The Penn's Grove record., 1887-04-23

/ the north to Cape May on the S"uIiI'
and from Pennsgroye on the west to
Long Branch on the east.
It would be difficult, unless the re-
lation wa known, to connect these
men with a little Office in Rutgers Col
lege in New Brunswick, but that IS the
central point from which they all 90
forth and to which they all ultimately
return. Indirectly under the super
vision of Professor Cook, the state
Geologist, and directly under the
charge ofC. Clarkson Nermeule, aIight
haired pleasant-faced young %topograph-
er, the i~tinerants are preparing maps,
of New Jersey for the use of the state
and National Government. Rather IL
should be said that they are preparing
maps, for the work is being done on a
scale SO large that the pictures OF all
the counties put together would more
than cover the side of the largest room.
About four ifths of the maps cover
ing as many of the seventeen triangula-
tions into which the State has been di-
yided have been completed and they
| are the finest specimens of the handi-
work of engineers and d%raughtsmen in
thisc ountry. In fact they are pro
nounced by engineers to be the finest
and most accurate maps in the whole
world. although England and other Eu-
ropean countries have spent fabulous
| sums for similar work. Every road,
| canal, swamp, hill, mountain, valley,
lake or stream, even every brook and
marsh. is indicat ed on them with a IL
deity to detail tn at is amazing. Tie
maps show the height of every eleFa-
ton and depression in the State of con
sequence, above or below the sea level,
they show the depth of water i'll all the
rivers and in the sea and bays along
the coast. They indicate the character
of the soil, the presence of the N neral
wealth and its nature and they show
even the streets and parks in the cities
of New Jersey and in New York ard
Philadelphia,
The work has been in progress about
five years, although the topographers
took advantage of the drawings of Unit
ed States Coast and Geodetic SlnyeS
and some recent surveys ofcities towns
and railroads which were known to be
accurate. Upto 1884 about half ofthe
State had been surveyed at cost of $25,-
600. The work up to that time had
been paid for entirely by New Jersey.
The Nation Government then agreed
on consideration for the use Of the
maps already prepared, to complete the
balance. Professor Cook, however,
retained supervision over the work.
When completed it is estimated that
the total cost of preparing the maps
will have reached the sum of S50,00O,50,
900.
Mr.. Vermule, the topographer was
busily engaged in the work ON Satur-
day at Rutgers College where the State
Biologists office is located, but he
ceased his labOrs to talk about the Won
derful maps. The field work in the en-
tire State, he said, would be done
about September list. Last year, strip
of territory in Hunterdon, Somerset,
Gloucester, Camden, Salem and Allan
tic Counties was surveyed, finishing up
the southern portion of the state,
Maps had already been issued for llud-
SON and Essex Counties and THEN vi.
entity, but the field work from which
the drawings were made was done in
1877 and lSS0-betore the present maps
were found to very inaccurate. There
fore, as Essex, Hudson and PasSaic
Counties are the most ]populous and inn
portant counties in the State, they will
be surveyed all over again and entirely
new maps will be issued for them. The
engineer thought that the printing Of
the maps would be completed by the
time the Legislature meets in lSSS.
Asa map made from the seventeen
sheets Governing the whole state would
make one drawing 50 large that a man
would have to hang out Of doors and
use a step bladder to look at it, the Geo
logical Bureau will issue a miniature
reduced by a Photographic process, to
about the size of M of the Single tri-
angular section sheets. Yet even this
map will be twenty four inches long.
Some idea of the magnitude and de
licacy of the work vas gathered from
the photographer, He showed the re
porter the original drawings, made on
a scale of three inches to the mile. On
these maps the lines We're 50 fine aud 50
much accuracy was essential that the
draughtsmen worked with magniiying
glasses. These sheets We're copied ON
WilSlltl tlih AllO tNIiNN VI INV ANANi'tNA
at New Brunswick. The printed maps
are on il scale of mile to an inch
= Mr.. Vermuele said that the surveyors
of several railroad corporations had
visited the Office and selected, by refer
ence to the maps, rOutse for spurs and
branches to their present lines, They
did this in preference to travelling over
the land themselves, and found the re
suit more satisfactory.
Professor Cook says this year in his
report to the Legislature: The Unit
ed States, although not usually deli
cient in enterprise, is very much be-
hind other nations in the matter of
maps, and thus far the cartography of
even important and populouS sections
! of the county is lamentable deficient.
! The cause OF this is not difficult TO trace